She's Still a Child
by Lucareeo
Summary: Everyone knew Tsuyu to be level-minded and calm in the worst of situations. Even when she comes face-to-face with death, she still manages to keep her focus; however, in the end she's still a teenager girl.


It was only a few days after the incident at USJ. The entire Class 1-A had gone there to undergo some extensive training on rescue maneuvers and what not. As situations never were predictable, it was up to them to understand what to do in worst case scenarios and how to protect civilians. Absolutely no one had anticipated villains appearing.

Tsuyu Asui had no idea what the other students had gone through during the attack besides Izuku Midoriya and Minoru Mineta. She had saw with her own, large eyes what villains could do and the horrors of what it truly means to be a part of a super-human society. Seeing her teacher's face being repeatedly bashed into the ground as his skin had been disintegrated was one terrifying spectacle, but she herself had been on the very verge of death.

If it wasn't for Aizawa-sensei's determination to activate his quirk at the last moment, well, there was no way Tsuyu could've been there in one piece. The rigid, gloomy hand on her face had haunted her for nights to come – but she never showed how she felt. That's who she was, Tsuyu Asui, the hero who is able to stay calm in the direst of situations. That's how she would become a great pro-hero one day, her calmness in the worst scenarios would help her assess situations and proceed with a focus mind and goal. That's who she was _going_ to be, but right now she was still a young teenage girl.

No child wishes to be a hero and remembers what villains truly are. Malicious. Corrupted. Violent. _Evil._ It was that moment of the villain's attack that she truly recalled what it meant to be a hero. It meant sacrificing yourself for the greater good.

When Aizawa-sensei had walked into class, fully clothed in bandages, Tsuyu's heart tightened. While she never showed it, the young girl asked if he would be alright considering all the damages he sustained. Only her, Izuku and Minoru saw first-hand how badly his injuries were and the mummy get-up didn't truly tell the rest of the class how horrifying his condition actually was. The pro-hero only assured them that he would be fine in his state, and that school sport's festival was approaching. The class lit up, happy to have something "normal" in their lives. But how can things be normal when they were being trained to fight villains?

After the announcements, Tsuyu had gone straight to her teacher before he left the room. Everyone was too busy to really notice her when she stood up, and Aizawa hadn't thought someone would approach him regardless.

"Sensei." She started, looking up at him with her hands in front of her. "I wanted to say thank you for saving me back during the attack – _ribbit._ " Tsuyu had always been someone to say what was on her mind, but for some reason she began to think careful about how to phrase what she wanted to say.

"If you hadn't used your quirk while in so much pain, I don't think-" Her eyes darted to the ground before Aizawa placed one of his wrapped arms on top of her head.

"It's a teacher's job to protect his students. Considering the situation, you all did tremendously well on staying safe and protecting each other. You especially Asui, your ability to stay calm in situations like that will help you in the long run." He waited for her to say something to which she replied with a nod. Aizawa nodded as well and left the room, heading towards the teacher's lounge.

He planned to sought to the principal and ask for a trauma therapist for his students. Aizawa felt it was necessary for the students to have a professional to talk about the incident and see how they truly felt. No one had gotten seriously injured as they were all trained extremely well, but in the end they were all still children. Children who were still in their early development stages and something as terrifying as a villain attack could have shaken them up in some way. When Tsuyu Asui approached him, he knew that he needed to get the principal to agree on a therapist session. Sure, every single one of them were heroes-to-be and therefore they should treat every single one of them like a pro-hero adult, but that truly wasn't the case. Every single one of the students had their own insecurities and worries, Aizawa was able to see it in every student. He would've comforted Asui better but considering how exhausted he was from his injuries in actuality, he was worried he might've said something unhelpful. He wasn't a therapist, nor a parent. He was a teacher, yeah, but he needed help in raising these kids.

Tsuyu stood there by the door, staring down at the ground. Her hands were always kept up as it was comfortable for her, but when she looked down at her hands, the beating in her chest rose. Visions appeared before her, the villain's hand, Aizawa-sensei's disintegrated elbow and beaten face, then Izuku's body lunging towards the villain. Her big eyes began to well up and she quickly went outside of the classroom.

With the announcement of the sports festival, the entire class was chatting away at what they've seen in previous years and what the possible obstacles were this year. Ochako had been listening to Deku's rambles about the intricacy of the sports festival and Iida's input when she noticed Tsuyu walk out of the door. The frog girl had become close friends with Ochako, being that were both girls in the class and got along really well. Normally she would've seen Mina turned around to chat with her but she had gone over to Denki and Kirishima to talk. Could she have been going to the bathroom? They usually went to the bathroom together before lunch, it was there time to talk and discuss what had happened during class (and that was usually when Ochako would ask for clarification on certain subjects she didn't understand.)

"Uraraka? You okay?" The voice was soft, Deku had noticed how she was spacing out and staring at the space Tsuyu had been.

"Oh! Yeah! Sorry!" She laughed, rubbing the back of her head.

"We were just discussing about a few previous sport festivals, one in which my brother had participated in. I hope we aren't boring you." Iida added, readjusting his glasses.

"Ah, I wasn't listening, I'm sorry but it's totally not boring! I just saw Tsuyu walk out and was wondering where she was going, is all!" She explained, looking back to the closed door. Both Deku and Iida looked over to the door.

"Asui-san?" Iida hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps it's that time of the day when she needs to use the restroom." He looked pretty happy with his probably obvious solution, but Deku looked towards Ochako with concern.

"I think maybe she went to check on Aizawa-sensei? Back during the attack we saw him in really bad shape and-" Deku stopped, the scene unfolded in his head. When the villain's hand had approached Tsuyu's face he had seen the possibility of what could've happened to her. Tsuyu's face was disintegrating, and while in his mind it seemed to look like falling blocks, the reality would've been much more gruesome.

"Deku?" Uraraka tilted her head at the other student who froze in place. He quickly rose to his feet, alarming both of his friends.

"I should go check on her!" Deku's hand balled in a fist and held against his chest. He should've known there was something wrong with his classmate. Even though he always found Asui's calmness during harsh situations to be astounding, Deku had forgotten that they were all human. Humans with worries and fears.

"Deku what's going on?" Uraraka's voice was laced with concern and slight panic. Iida followed suit.

"Could it be, something happened during the attack at USJ?" Iida's conclusion was spot on, as usual though, it might've been obvious.

Deku wanted to phrase it lightly, not sure if Asui would want him to tell his classmates of her possible… death.

"Yeah… Something did. I don't know if I should say but I want to check on her." Deku began moving from his seat towards the door when his friends stopped him.

"Deku! Um-" Uraraka didn't really know how to phrase it. "If she's not feeling well, I think she would be in the bathroom." Both Deku and Iida stopped walking and turned to her. The two boys looked at each other. Oh.

"I'll go in and talk to her, if you two want you can stand outside the bathroom!" While it was intended purely, both Deku and Iida realized the severity of being caught outside of the girl's bathroom, just standing there… Waiting. Yeah, that wasn't going to fly, even Mineta would be more stealthy than that when it came to seemingly perverted antics.

Iida cleared his throat. "I think it would be better for us to stay in the classroom." He explained before Deku reluctantly nodded his head.

"Can you tell her that I'm also here for her if she needs to talk?" Deku asked, causing Uraraka to beam. He truly was "Deku" who could do anything. His concern for his classmates was exactly the trait of what a hero is supposed to be.

"Don't worry, leave it to me!"

-  
Tsuyu sat on one of the toilets in the stall, contemplating. Thinking. Crying. Being calm meant to not overthink, to realize your placement in the situation and take it one action at a time. People like Izuku were good at overthinking and assessing the situation too far, but it didn't mean Tsuyu didn't do it either. It was delayed, that was all.

What would've happened if Aizawa hadn't erased the villain's quirk? How badly would her face ben damaged before she could pull away? Would she be able to pull away? Would she have screamed? If she survived, what would her family have thought? Would her siblings cry? Then again, would she have even survived to see her siblings? Thoughts like those racked in Tsuyu's mind, with each scenario came a large tear that fell to the ground. She was never a loud crier, but the small hiccups mixed with ribbit noises was audible to anyone who would come in. If someone were to come in, she could just dismiss it with an excuse or not reply at all.

"Tsuyu…?" A gentle voice called out as the bathroom door creaked. A surprised hiccup mixed with a croak came from her mouth, causing her to flush and hold her hands over her mouth.

"Tsuyu are you in here?" It was Ochako. She recognized the voice pretty easily. Any ounce of calmness she had was gone as she continued to overthink. Did she notice her talking to Aizawa-sensei? Why did she come looking for her? Did she know? Tsuyu nearly forgot to respond because of the overthinking until she heard the shifting of feet.

"I'm in here – _ribbit."_ The smaller girl called out. A sigh of relief came from Ochako as she headed over to the stall she heard the voice from.

"I – and well, Deku too – wanted to see if you were okay." She explained gently, standing in front of the stall door.

"Did…Izuku tell you anything?" Tsuyu asked, her heart beating fast again.

"No, he didn't want to tell us anything you might not have wanted us to know!" Ochako replied in a reassuring tone. It did, in fact, reassure Tsuyu a bit to know that he had kept quiet about the incident. It really wasn't something she wanted to tell everyone. It would probably lead to questions and then compliments on her calm demeanor. The only thing is, her entire personality didn't revolve around being calm all the time. If people expected her to stay calm, she would always have to be. All of her fears would've been pushed back and piled until something like this would happen.

"If you don't want to tell me, I totally understand! But I want you to know I'm here for you, okay?" Something about Ochako's voice had kept Tsuyu reassured, helping her revert back to a calmness that wasn't required under harsh circumstances.

Slowly the door opened and Ochako came face to face with a red-eyed, tear-stained Tsuyu Asui. Both girl's hearts had fluttered. One, seeing a close friend had come to find her, while the other, saw her close friend in such a state led her nearly to tears herself.

Neither of them knew who approached her first, but the two of them embraced tightly, Tsuyu letting out all of her emotions on Ochako's shoulder. Her cries became loud, mixed with hiccups and ribbits as giant tears streamed down her face. All of her emotions began pooling in that once embrace, even Ochako had begun welling up herself.

"I-I was so scared Ochako!" Tsuyu cried out, gripping tightly on her friend as she wept into Ochako's shoulder.

"You're safe now." Ochako's hand moved to rub Tsuyu's back and her hair, holding the crying form closer to her. "You're so strong Tsuyu, but you know you're allowed to cry! You can always come to me to talk about how you're feeling okay? Never keep it in." In the moment, Ochako had considering kissing the top of Tsuyu's head but chose against it. Instead, she leaned her face against the top of her head, keeping the embrace close and tight.

Tsuyu nodded her head against Ochako's shoulder, sniffing as she rubbed her eyes with one of her hands.

They were both going to be pro-heroes, but at that moment they were two, high school girls. If anyone outside of Class 1-A were to see them, they might've considered a "normal" incident like "boy troubles" or "failed grades." The situation was far more drastic, nearly life-threatening. Every student had considered the possibilities of events that could occur once they became a hero, but ever naively forgot those risks once they enrolled. Being a hero wasn't bright and shiny, there was danger, risks, the possibility of being taken away by death's hands.

In the end, they were children thrown into a world of evil. If it were any other students, they might have given up becoming a hero after a near-death situation. Class 1-A was different. They've learned from it, grown together as a class and became stronger. Being a hero meant seeing possible death, but it also meant saving the people you love from death. In that moment, Tsuyu felt empowered. She wanted to become a hero to protect the people she love and Ochako had reminded her of that love that propelled her into enrolling into U.A. She would become stronger, but she knew that there was someone she could reveal her inner self to when she needed it.

-  
A soft knock on Ochako's dorm door nearly caused her to jump right out of her skin. On hot, hungry days she would do her best to meditate into another kind of state. (She can't spend money if she wasn't fully there!) The knock occurred again, louder.

"I'm coming!" Ochako got up and fixed her shorts, walking over to the door. Maybe it was Mina asking if they all wanted to watch a movie together in the common living space. Maybe someone would bring popcorn and then she would be able to fill her stomach with something! The thought of it excited her until she opened the door and Tsuyu was there.

"Tsuyu!" Ochako's excitement turned to concern when she saw Tsuyu's face. It was serious, nearly dreary.

"Can I talk to you? – _ribbit_." Of course, Tsuyu never had to ask, Ochako brought her inside her dorm and sat her down, listening to her.

The smaller girl had expressed her concerns and feelings that she felt what she said to Izuku and the others when they wanted to go save Bakugou was uncalled for. She had called them "no better than villains" and couldn't help but regret what she had said. Of course her friends weren't villains, but she had expressed what was on her mind during the exchanges. The words haunted her, even after they had rescued Bakugou and everything was seemingly well.

She embraced Ochako and begun to cry again, though softly. Ochako could only smile, happy to know the other girl was able to express her feelings. She ran a hand over Tsuyu's hair and assured her that they were all still going to be friends, and that the best course of action was to talk to them.

"Don't worry, I'll help you out! If you want I can get them all to talk to you at night, and you can tell them how you feel. Is that okay?" Ochako asked, rubbing Tsuyu's shoulder gently. She nodded in response and Ochako placed a kiss to the girl's forehead. 


End file.
